Display-counter.



Patented July 9, 1918. I

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DISPLAY COUNTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 3. 1916.

W. G. SHERER.

DISPLAY COUNTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 3. 1916.

Patented July 9, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- Invenor 74% ZZzam GT /6/&67"67 0.. wnsmm: mm. D. c.

WILLIAM G. SHEREB OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DI$PLAY-COUNTEB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9, 1918.

Application filed. November 3, 1916. Serial No. 129,250.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM G. SHERER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new an useful Improvement in Display-Counters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in display counters and has for one object to provide a new and improved type of display counter, wherein the front of the counter is covered bya series of separate display pockets, all of which are visible to the customer as she or he stands at the counter. Another object is to provide such a counter with a series of inclined transparent front display pockets so arranged that they are each of them equally visible and appear to the eye of the customer to be each of them of the same size. Another object is to provide a display counter with inclined display pockets so arranged that each pocket, no matter how high or how low, will subtend at the customers eye as he stands at the counter an angle measured in a vertical plane, equal to the angle subtended by any other. Other objects of my invention will appear from time to time in the specification.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing wherein- Figure l is a section through the'forward part of a display counter embodying the preferred form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar section through fied form;

Fig. 3 a section through a still further modification Like parts are indicated by like characters in all of the figures.

A is a top of a counter having an end wall A seen from the inside in this view. A A are horizontal partitions contained therein and adapted to support the usual type of drawers A A which slide therealong, the drawers of course moving, to open toward the rear of the counter.

The front of the counter is made up of a series of removable display pockets of any suitable size or shape supported on the front of the counter. They are normally provided with transparent walls whereby the contents of the pockets are visible.

Since it is desirable that the customer who stands at the counter shall see as little of the frame-work and construction of the a modicounter as possible, and as much of the con tents of the display pockets as possible, I arrange my pockets all of them parallel, and all of them inclined. In the preferred form they are stepped back slightly,'however, so that the top of each pocket is inside and below the bottom of the one above it. The result of this is that the customer as he stands at the counter and looks down, will see the wooden or metal framework at the bottom of each pocket, but will see little if any of the framework at the top of the one below, because that will be more or less covered by the framework of the pocket above. Of course this situation does not prevail when the customer is at a great distance from the counter, but when at a great distance he only gets a general birds-eye view and the dis play pockets are not so important. When standing at the counter, however, it is very import-ant that the customers see the contents of the pocket with as little interference as possible. By my arrangement this result is obtained.

However, if that were all, the result would not be satisfactory, because, with the customer standing erect at the counter, he is much farther from the lower pockets than he is from the upper, and the angle subtended at his eye by the lower pocket, will be much smaller than the angle subtended by the upper, unless the lower pocket is wider than the upper, and for this reason I make these pockets of progressively increasing width, that is, the tier of pockets at the top is of certain predetermined width, the neXt lower tier is still wlder, the third lower tier is wider yet, the increase in width being such that an ordinary customer standing at ordinary height, will, when looking at these display pockets, seem to see them all of equal width. The result is that the display articles in one pocket will be as well displayed as the articles in another.

Referring specifically to the preferred form in Fig. l, B is the bottom, B the side walls of the display pockets. It has at its front a transparent window B surrounded by, and held in position in a frame B It has at the rear a partition B*, the parts all cooperating to form a thin deep pocket in which material may be held for display. The side walls B are notched as at B to engage the holding strips B, B and B on the counter front. The lower part B is provided with a ledge B forming a groove with 'the lower part of the frame B to engage the holding strips B B, B on the front of the counter.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a generally similar arrangement, wherein all the display pockets are parallel and all of'them inclined, but I have shown them so arranged that the upper inner edge of each of the counters is in. the same or a common vertical plane parallel with the front of the counter. In this arrangement there is a greater vertical gap between the pockets but the woodwork visible to the eye of the customer, looking along the dotted lines, is even less conspicuous than in the preferred form in Fig. 1, for in the case of the subject matter of Fig. 2 absolutely the only woodwork visible is the lower frame of each pocket, the upper frame of each pocket being completely covered either by the lowerframe of the one above it or by the top of the counter.

Referring now to the subject matter I shown in Fig. 8, I have shown all the pockets in the same inclined plane. In this case the woodwork is comparatively conspicuous, but because the width of the pocket is varied in accordance with the distance of the pocket from the eye of the customer, the angles are the same, and each counter pocket looks to the eye of a customer, glancing along the dotted lines, as if it were the same size.

Of course the particular arrangement of the pockets may be varied to suit different conditions, and I have only shown and described a particular suitable form of pocket. The essential thing is that the eye of the customer gain the impression that the pockets are all of the same width. This impression might be given to the customer by a large number of different arrangements, but I prefer to give this impression by making these pockets, all parallel, all inclined, and by varyino their width in proportion to their distance from the eye of the customer. In order to illustrate this I have shown diagrammatically the eye of the customer with lines drawn from it to the boundaries of the pockets whereby it will be evident that the angle of vision of each pocket is the same.

I claim: v

1. A display counter having a series of display pockets mounted on the front thereof one above the other and inclined to the vertical, all of said pockets being parallel, each pocket being higher than-and having its upper edge slightly behind the lower edge of the one above it.

2. A display counter having a series of display pockets mounted on the front there of in a series of horizontal rows, the pockets 1n each row being parallel with all the others, and higher than and having their" upper edges arranged slightly behind the lower edges of those in the row above it.

3. A display counter having a series of display pockets on the front sides thereof, all of said pockets being inclined to the vertical and being parallel one with another, the height of the pockets being such that the angle subtended by each pocket at the eye of tical, the height of the pockets being such that the angle subtended by each pocket at the eye of a customer standing at the counter is substantially the same.

6. A display counter having a series of display pockets on the front sides thereof of varying vertical dimensions, the size of the pockets being such that each pocket subtends the same vertical angle at the eye of a customer as the other pockets above and below it.

7. A display counter having a series of display pockets on the front side thereof in varying vertical dimensions said pockets extending across the front in a plurality of separate groups one above the other the sizes of the pockets being such that each pocket subtends the same vertical angle at the eye of the customer asthe other pockets above and below it.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature inthe presence of two witnesses this 31st day of October, 1916.

WILLIAM G. SI-IERER.

Witnesses:

LAUREL M. DOREMUS, MINNIE M. LINDENAU.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

